KEY UPDATES
· There were no federal or provincial announcements today; the next update from either government will be Tuesday, May 19
· Public Health continues to encourage residents experiencing any COVID-19-like symptoms to visit an Assessment Centre in York Region as their first step
· York Region reminded residents to wear a two-layer cloth mask in situations where physical distancing may be challenging, such as in small grocery stores or pharmacies
· While some conservation areas are open, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority will open remaining areas by May 29 – this news was shared on the Region’s Twitter and Facebook
· Libraries play a key role for families coping with school closures and e-learning
· The first phase of Canadian clinical trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be underway in three weeks
· York Region Forestry staff reported most visitors (Saturday and Sunday) were following the new rules for using the Regional Forests, with parking lots and roadside parking at popular forest tracts were at 75% capacity with no issues; staff will continue to monitor on Victoria Day
In York Region as of May 17, at 5 p.m. there are:
2,038 total confirmed cases 35 new cases* since yesterday78 confirmed cases in hospital, 19 of which are in Intensive Care260 cases among health care workers, of which 154 cases have resolved*7 new fatalities
· 159 total confirmed fatalities
1,037 resolved cases, which equals about 51%
· 25 institutional outbreaks under COVID-19 protocols:
o 13 Long-Term Care/Retirement Homes
o 10 Community Care Settings
o 2 Hospital
· 29 institutional outbreaks declared over
*Data quality is an ongoing process and may result in the more/less cases reported on a day-over-day basis or other changes to how cases are classified (e.g., municipality, acquisition, etc.). These data quality activities have also resulted in the re-categorization of individuals. Data quality activities do not increase or decrease total case counts.
The comprehensive list of outbreaks (including the number of resident and health care worker positive cases) is available on york.ca/covid19 The data can be filtered by municipality.
To access this list, select the blue drop-down menu titled Interactive Dashboard – Outbreaks in Long-Term Care and Community Care Settings
As of this morning, there are:
· 22,653 total cases (17,360 resolved); with 1,881 related fatalities in Ontario
· 76,204 total cases (340 increase in last 24 hours); with 5,702 related fatalities in Canada
· Over 4.5 million total cases worldwide with cases in 216 countries, areas or territories; 307,537 related fatalities reported to WHO; 1.6 million have recovered